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DUCH’S HEARING: A TURNING POINT FOR CAMBODIA

BY YOUK CHHANG
Director of Documentation Center of Cambodia
Phnom Penh - March 30, 2009

Today is a turning point for Cambodia. Today, after 30 years of waiting, Cambodians have taken a historical step. Through legal means, we are challenging impunity and moving ahead in our long journey for genocide justice. This journey is essential for us to come together as a nation. The Khmer Rouge trials are not only about justice; they are also about the Memory of Our Nation.

Duch's hearing today offers a chance for survivors and Cambodians born after the Khmer Rouge period to learn about that terrible period in our country’s history from those who were directly involved in it. There may be no single answer to what really happened. However, we all have the obligation to participate in the search for truth. Together, we can build a better understanding of our common past.

Cambodia is a deeply wounded nation after years of war and genocide. We have been a divided people for many decades, but we all share a common concern about the future of our country and the legacy we will leave our children. We need a credible legal process that will help us restore faith in justice. We also need a process that helps us feel that we are in charge of our own history.

Victims have an obligation to take responsibility and help this process be a successful one by confirming the brutality they suffered and by sharing their part of our history. This process is a crucial step forward for the healing of our nation. Reconciliation is not only about the victims or the winners but also the perpetrators. Former enemies can only reconcile in a genuine way if they are armed with the truth.

I hope the government will make it possible for all Cambodians to participate in the trial process by encouraging media throughout the country to televise the court hearing. I also hope that the government will declare a national holiday to allow everyone to spend a day to observe, reflect, and remember.*

How many are too many defendants at the KRT? Try a reasonable number limited by long-term resource availability.

The Phnom Penh Post
January 8, 2009
French version

THERE was a steady drumbeat from the beginning of the negotiations in 1997 that the ECCC would focus on "senior Khmer Rouge leaders" and those "most responsible" for the atrocity crimes of the Pol Pot regime. The Cambodian, UN and American negotiators never limited the pool of suspects to be charged and brought to trial to five or six individuals, although it was no secret that some Cambodian officials desired a small number, which would exclude current government and military officials. Yet there was no serious negotiation expressly to embrace that Cambodian view as that would have been an intolerable position for the non-Cambodian negotiators to accept and it would have fatally undermined the integrity of the court.

Justice, Interrupted: Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal risks becoming a sham

The Wall Street Journal
December 14, 2008

No court can be considered legitimate if its judges and prosecutors submit to political diktat. Tragically, the United Nations-backed court in Phnom Penh investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for the Khmer Rouge's crimes in Cambodia is at risk of doing just that.

Who Next?

Written by Beth Van Schaack

French translation

The Agreement establishing the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia obligates the Tribunal to “bring to trial senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the crimes” of the Khmer Rouge era. Accordingly, the Tribunal is to focus its prosecutions on two sets of defendants: senior leaders and those deemed “most responsible” for international crimes.

Joint Criminal Enterprise and the Khmer Rouge Prosecutions

Written by John Ciorciari

French version

On December 5, pre-trial judges at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) will rule on an appeal by the Canadian and Cambodian Co-Prosecutors in the case against Duch, who once headed the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh. The appeal deals with a number of issues, but one of the most important is the prosecution's request to apply a controversial legal doctrine known as joint criminal enterprise. As this brief article will discuss, the judges' decision on whether to grant that request will likely affect the trials of many or all Khmer Rouge defendants.

It could also set an important precedent for future international and hybrid criminal proceedings.